ordinary people, extraordinary stories

Filled with unforgettable stories featuring some of the most colorful characters of the Beat Generation, The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told is a winsome coming-of-age story about one man’s search for identity and what happens when he finally finds it.

To the world, they were literary icons. To Dikkon, they were friends who read him bedtime stories, gave him advice, and, on one particularly memorable occasion, helped him with his English homework.

Anxious to escape his famous father’s shadow, Dikkon struggled for decades to forge an identity of his own, first in writing and then on the stage, before inadvertently stumbling upon the answer he’d been looking for all along—in the most unlikely of places.

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Kind Words From Others

"A memoir charting an artist’s lifelong challenge to accept his calling. Eberhart was raised by a famous poet, Richard Eberhart, and surrounded in his youth by accomplished writers: e.e. cummings, Alan Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, and an impressive cast of others. In this often bemusing recounting of an unconventional upbringing, Eberhart describes a family that quietly, even unselfconsciously, displayed its own brand of eccentricity…The extraordinary arc of Eberhart’s maturation—and coming to terms with his father’s legacy—culminates in a religious conversion…The path he took was a meandering one, like an epic poem. An often lighthearted but also profound recounting of a life in search of art and faith."

"Throughout his life, Eberhart lived in the shadow of his father, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet laureate Richard Eberhart. But it wasn’t just his father who shaped his world. So did the literary giants who filled the family home during his youth, including Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, and Sylvia Plath. The home near Dartmouth College, where Richard Eberhart taught, was filled with discussions and debates over not only poetry and philosophy, but also religion. Yet it wasn’t until after he became a father himself that Eberhart truly pondered the questions about religion that seeped into his soul. Initially, he found the answers he craved in Reform Judaism, but then at the age of 60 found the forgiveness he longed for in Christianity…Eberhart sketches a portrait of himself as a man coming to terms with his father and reconciling with his “ultimate Father” as well. "

"The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told by Dikkon Eberhart: This memoir by the son of the Pulitzer Prize–winning U.S. poet laureate Richard Eberhart is as remarkable as the title suggests. But amidst all the fascinating firsthand glimpses of twentieth century literary and historical luminaries is a very real and honest account of a son trying to find himself under the shadow of a great father. In this sense, it is Everyman’s story."

"...Eberhart has a way of making the things meaningful to him meaningful to the reader. His introspection and humor, his insight and exposition, all combine together to craft a story that had me turning pages every bit as fast as a thriller.

Eberhart writes conversationally, but in a literary tone. Let me explain. A couple years ago, I reviewed a book by a country musician and noted that he wrote like you were sitting down with him over a beer. Eberhart writes conversationally, but like you and he are enjoying a nice glass of expensive wine. You get the atmosphere I’m trying to convey. It’s a tone perfect to the book and perfect to Dikkon’s upbringing and character.

All told, this is beautiful memoir. It’s normal enough to be relatable and outstanding enough to be worthy of publication. If ever there was an example of life as story The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told is that example."

About Dikkon

Dikkon Eberhart is the son of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet laureate of the United States Richard Eberhart. He grew up surrounded by the great writers of the mid- to late- 20th century. He holds an MDiv. and an MA as well as a PhD in religion and art from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Dikkon and his wife, Channa, have four grown children and two grandchildren, and they currently make their home in a small Maine coastal town, where their Baptist community recently honored Dikkon by electing him a deacon and a church board member.

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